More Sites Going Dark Over SOPA and PIPA, But Not Twitter

A number of high-profile sites, from Reddit to Wikipedia, have pledged to shut down on Jan. 18 in protest of SOPA and PIPA, but organizers said today that as many as 7,000 sites are planning to go dark at midnight.

Opponents of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) are gearing up for tomorrow's Web site blackouts. A number of high-profile sites, from Reddit to Wikipedia, have pledged to shut down on Jan. 18 in protest of the bills, but organizers said today that as many as 7,000 sites are planning to go dark at midnight.

One site that won't shut down, however, is Twitter.

According to sopastrike.com, Web sites joining the protest include Boing Boing, WordPress, and the Cheezburger network sites. From 8am to 8pm Eastern, these and other sites will return only a banner with information about SOPA.

In a conference call with reporters this morning, Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Open Congress, said the "confirmed participants" list on sopastrike.com are sites with which organizers have had internal discussions about the blackout. A much lengthier list is at the bottom of the site, but those sites have not been verified.

One of the sites on that longer list is Twitter.com, but Dick Costolo, Twitter's CEO, said this weekend that the micro-blogging site will not be participating.

"That's just silly. Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish," Costolo tweeted after a journalist asked whether Twitter, Facebook, or Google would have the "cojones" to go dark tomorrow.

But while Twitter will not be shutting down on Jan. 18, Costolo insisted that "Not shutting down a service doesn't equal not taking the proper stance on an issue. We've been very clear about our stance."

Last month, the co-founders of top tech firms like Google, Twitter, Yahoo, and eBay penned an open letter in opposition to SOPA and PIPA.

"We've all had the good fortune to found Internet companies and nonprofits in a regulatory climate that promotes entrepreneurship, innovation, the creation of content and free expression online," they wrote. "However, we're worried that the PROTECT IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Actwhich started out as well-meaning efforts to control piracy onlinewill undermine that framework."

What's Next for SOPA/PIPA?
On Saturday, Rep. Darrell Issaa SOPA/PIPA opponent and author of the competing OPEN Actcancelled a Wednesday hearing about Domain Name System (DNS) blocking after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pledged not to bring SOPA to the floor for a vote.

"Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote," Issa said in a statement.

As a result, SOPA is off the tablefor this week at leastso the focus has been turned to PIPA, the Senate version of SOPA. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has placed PIPA on the Senate schedule for Jan. 24, though he and bill sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy appear willing to make concessions.

Sen. Leahy said last week that he wanted to examine the effect of DNS blocking before implementation. And during an appearance on Meet the Press this weekend (video below), Sen. Reid admitted that PIPA "could create some problems," so work needs to be done. He pledged to work with Leahy to craft what is known as a manager's amendment, which will alter some of the more onerous parts of the bill. But at this point, PIPA is still on track for later this month.

Rep. Lamar Smith also made changes to SOPA; last week he said he would strip DNS blocking from the bill so that the Justice Department could not force ISPs to block offending Web sites. Without DNS blocking, SOPA would still allow officials to "follow the money" and cut off payment options to foreign illegal sites, like credit-card processing or PayPal accounts. Search engines like Google and Bing would also still be required to remove infringing Web sites from their search results. Copyright holders could also still bring claims against foreign Web sites that steal their technology, products, or IP.

Even without DNS blocking, opponents said during the call today that they still have issues with both bills.

Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director for Public Knowledge, said his organization is troubled by the broad definitions in the bills, provisions that allow private right of action, and the blanket immunity provided to those who take voluntary action against suspected copyright infringers.

"Both of these bills provide immunity to intermediaries who act against suspected infringers. They could cut someone off and not be liable for any infringement," Siy said. "All they have to do is say they acted in good faith and say they have reasonable evidence of infringement."

An ISP like Comcast, Siy said, could conceivably cut off YouTube.ca because it competes with their cable offerings, or Google could go after dailymotion.fr by saying only that it suspects the site of hosting infringing content, simply because they are located overseas.

"It also creates a very different balance of power," Siy said.

Erik Martin, the general manager of Reddit, had similar concerns. There's some "technologically ignorant language in there," he said.

About the Author

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships a... See Full Bio

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